They Used to be Rodeo Clowns. Now they are Bull Fighters (George Paul 2008)

May 5, 2008
By Stacy S. Jensen
Special to LIVE!

Matt Baldwin has been a bullfighter for 17 years. He worked at the 31st Annual George Paul Memorial Bull Riding Event. (LIVE! Photo/Stacy Stenberg) (click image to enlarge)

From the first time Matt Baldwin of Sylvania, Ala. saw it, he knew he would be doing it. He wanted to fight bulls.

He does it on a full-time basis. Baldwin was part of a four-member team working to keep a safe distance between the bulls and their dismounted rider at the 31st George Paul Memorial Bull Riding Event in Del Rio on May 3 and 4.

Bullfighters began as rodeo clowns, but that changed as the bulls changed.

"It began as clown rodeo entertainment," he said. "Then the bulls got meaner. Then clowns had to do double duty."

Now, it's just bull fighting. The makeup is replaced by padding. Shorts replaced the baggy pants and they wear sports-like jerseys. The fighters make themselves a target of the bucking bulls.

"I have got to make the bull chase me, not [the riders]," Baldwin said, whose been doing this for 17 years.

To help, the fighters have to be limber.

"You stretch," Baldwin said. "They'll wad you up in some unnatural positions. It helps to be limber."

Fighters also help riders when their feet or hands get caught in the ropes.

"My job is to protect these bull riders and keep them healthy," said bullfighter Ray Clary of Lufkin, Texas.

"It's a team effort for sure," Baldwin said.

"It's a timing kind of deal," said Clary, who has been fighting for 15 years. You have to know when to get in to help, he said.

Bull Rider Spud Jones of Twin Lakes, N.M. gets help from the bull fighters on Sunday after a ride at the 31st Annual George Paul Memorial Bull Riding Event. Jones earned 179.5 points from three rides. (LIVE! Photo/Stacy Stenberg) (click image to enlarge)

Travis Adams has been fighting bulls professionally for 13 years. In December 2006, he went to the national Finals Rodeo. He said he "just grew up around it."

Adams naturally fell into the job.

"I rode bulls as a kid," he said. "I could outrun the bulls, so I got to be the fighter."

He initially thought he wanted to be a bull rider. "I was a better fighter than a rider."

What was going through Adams' mind the first time the gate opened at a bull ride he was working? "Man, I can't believe they pay me to have this much fun."

"We have respect for the animals," Adams said. "We try to get everyone out of there safe and have a good time."